| The Creative Expressions of... Bill Vivrett |
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| Our 50th D.H.S. Reunion:
A Reminiscence Fable _______________________________________________________________ Driving down on Saturday evening, I wandered back in time. Seems like only yesterday! Growing up in the fifties, life was easy and laid back. But, how did we survive? No remote, cell phone, DVD, computer, fax, instant messaging, Palm Pilot or e-mail! Instead we �cruised-the-drag� from the north end to the south with out meeting-place-turn-around at the three maples, owned and operated by Bobby Hall�s mom and dad. [Do yourself a favor. See American Graffiti again]. Where are those long ago kids of summers past, I puzzled, as I drove. Just after tables had been cleared, I slipped into the back of the banquet room completely unrecognized. The room was astir with happy strangers getting reacquainted. But, where were the graduates of �54�? Who were these people? Why were they crashing our special evening of �remember-when-nostalgia�? � And most important what have they done with our classmates of the DHS Class of 1954? The pre-announced M.C. was to be Jo Anne (Sheets) Harshaw � but where was she? Maybe she was ill. Instead, there was the strange lady, who would call graduates� names and then, in each case, a complete stranger would stand up and talk about what my friend had been doing the last half century. How did they know all those details? How did they know any of that? It was bizarre! The first name the strange lady called was Doyle Pollock. He had been a gifted athlete in all sports. So now, where was he? Certainly not this man who was speaking for him. With 50 years to mellow, I now remembered all the guys in that class as being B+ bright trim and fun-loving. And I remembered all the girls of the class of �54� as being even brighter, more vivacious and certainly more attractive. One by one, as the impersonator stand-in for Jo Anne called a name, a stranger would stand and speak very knowledgeably about my old friend. Someone spoke for James Acord, pretty Mary (Krodinger) Baisch, our prom queen, Carol Lynn (Rowe) Baxter and June (Coleman) Leon; On down the list of familiar names and I became increasingly confused (dejected) when I heard the name Warren Bergman, I studied the man. Was there something familiar? The smile? But, no. This man was even bigger than Warren and far more outgoing. But � he still had hair. I came out of my daze, again when the name Charlie Johnson came up. I had not seen Charlie since graduation day. Charlie Johnson was a natural leader and seemed to excel at everything. And this stand-in, this older gentleman, was still trim with the same ruggedly handsome features...but...I don�t know I wonder if he could sing �Alexander�s Ragtime Band� and bring the house down � like Charlie did so many years ago? I�m just not sure what�s going on here? Who ARE these frauds? What have they done with my classmates? I became so confused in that surreal room I had entered, that I slipped into the men�s room for a splash of cold water reality. When I raised my head to look into the mirror, I saw another one � another pretender. |
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| Updated 03.18.06 |
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